Farm bill's redraft raises worry in Colorado farm, ranch communities

Joe Freund, 46, of Elizabeth takes care of his cattle in a stockyard Wednesday at the National Western Stock Show. Ranchers such as Freund worry about the provisions of a new federal farm bill. (Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post)

Joe Freund said his family has been in the ranching business "since forever," and often partnered with genetics researchers and veterinarians at Colorado State University, who depend on money in the federal farm bill. Freund, 46, of Elizabeth is no fan of big government, but he said there are things only the government can do well, and the advancement of animal science, vital to cattle breeders, is one of them.That's why he, along with ranchers and farmers across the country, is watching to see how Congress decides to trim a five-year, $500 billion farm bill.

"What they do with (the farm bill) could be detrimental to my part of the cattle business," he said, standing in the cattle yard at the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo.

"There's a lot of things that need to be cut, but I hope they're fair in looking at the good our state research universities do for agriculture and the economy," he said.

Jon Scholl, president of American Farmland Trust, a conservation organization, said the congressional debate creates "a very uncertain situation."

"There won't be enough money to go around," he said. "Budgets are just going to get thinner, and I don't think the politics is going to get any easier."

Farmers and ranchers at the stock show said they fear Congress will do an across-the-board cut that could hobble crop insurance, research and loan programs they consider vital to their industries.

Leaders in Washington tabled talks on a new farm bill this month and opted to extend the provisions of the 2008 bill until September.

The previous farm bill funded 15 programs. The biggest are food stamps, which account for 67 percent of the funding; crop subsidies that make up 15 percent; soil conservation at 9 percent; and crop insurance at 8 percent.

A farm bill passed by the Senate last year included $23 billion in cuts over 10 years. House Republicans wanted $35 billion in cuts.

As Congress drafts a new federal farm bill, ranchers are concerned about cuts to vital agriculture programs such as research and crop insurance. (Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post)

"We're going to have to look at everything to cut our federal spending," said U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Colo. "We've got a lot of work to do."

He said the biggest difference between the House and Senate versions was in food-stamp spending, which does not affect most farmers and ranchers. But he expects there will be other targeted cuts.

"What we need to cut is programs that shouldn't even exist or just don't work," Gardner said. "We can save more money that way than across-the-board cuts. I think we need to be smart about it, though."

Cuts of any size could ripple through Colorado's agriculture economy, including many of the state's federal research labs and universities.

The Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit that tracks the farm bill, ranks Colorado 21st among the states that benefited from the 2008 farm bill.

"One thing we know: Essentially all of (the U.S. Department of Agriculture) is now defined as nondefense discretionary spending, and that's a target in and of itself," said Bill Farland, vice president of research at Colorado State University.

"Most of agriculture is doing pretty well," said state Agriculture Commissioner John Salazar, a family farmer in the San Luis Valley. "I think every farm group is saying we don't need subsidies right now."

Brent Boydston, vice president of public policy for the Colorado Farm Bureau, said his members are most concerned about crop insurance to safeguard against weather, pests and price collapses.

"Crop insurance is the only risk management a farmer has. He can't really go out to the private market and buy it on his own," Boydston said. "We have to make sure that safety net remains in place."

The farm bill also puts more than $4 billion a year into soil- conservation programs nationwide to curb erosion, water pollution and dust.

"We all want clean water. We all want clean air," Scholl said. "People need to understand that it's not just farmers and ranchers. These are things everyone wants."

Cuts in federal money for research will slice into innovation that powers the modern economy, said Farland, who chairs CO-LABS, the consortium of the state's federally funded laboratories.

Those 24 laboratories generated an estimated $1.5 billion in the state economy in 2010, including 7,964 direct jobs and 8,521 indirect jobs, according to an economic-impact study by the organization.

A retired CSU lab director, however, said it's time to think more broadly than public funding.

Stephen Withrow, who retired last May as director of CSU's Animal Cancer Center, balanced the budget of one of the nation's leading research facilities with donations, private partnerships and fees to those who benefit most.

"It could be that cattle ranchers get together and fund a veterinary-extension position," he said. "You have to go to the end user and not stand there with your hand out waiting for the government to help you."

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